Nature Notes

Apart from a few frosty nights the weather continues to be unseasonally mild. I have continued to fill the bird feeders in my garden. Whilst they are emptied in desperate haste in hard times, they are visited with a more seemly regularity by many species and I feel that the continual presence of birds in the garden is due to this. I can have a leisurely breakfast and be sure to watch some species or other from my conservatory.
By way of contrast, I recently did some surveys with a group of students at my local college as part of an Urban habitat course I am running. We were looking at the Canada Geese in Stratford Waterside and around the theatre. Last year, some eggs had been sterilised to try and limit the numbers. There are certainly fewer of them but people standing beside "don't feed" notices were obliviously throwing them scraps!
They have damaged much of the islands and banks, reducing them to scorched areas of barren mud. Native species have been driven away; there was one solitary wild Tufted duck (a diving species). Even the Mallards seemed to have interbred with white domestic ducks and there were also some domestic Emden geese which had probably been released there.
Most evident were hundreds of Seagulls, giving the area an almost seaside ambience. Twenty years ago, this was the preserve of mute Swans and wild ducks; now they are being marginalised and it is a blatant example of the harm that can be done by introductions: Canada Geese and Grey Squirrels from North America displacing our native species and Marine birds, like gulls and Cormorants, that never see the coast!
There are many other examples like Mink, Muntjak deer and Little Owls. The problem is that these animals are often the only ones people see and to exterminate them (as was done with Muskrats in the thirties) would no longer be acceptable to many. The debate goes on..! Bernard Price

Parish Council

Annual Parish Assembly Meeting to be held in Gaydon Village Hall on Tuesday 6 March at 7.30pm followed by the Parish Council Meeting at 8pm.

Friendship Club

Our meeting is to be held at 2.30pm on Tuesday 20 March at Offchurch, Banbury Road, Gaydon.

Mobile Library

The van will be visiting the village on Thursdays 8th and 22nd this month.

Village Coffee Morning

Village Hall
Saturday 10 March at 11 o'clock
Homemade Cakes & Bring and Buy
Raffle
Coffee, Tea and Biscuits
Come along to meet other villagers
and help raise some cash
for the upkeep of the village church!

Lost

If anyone has any information about a LARGE GREY & WHITE 'ENTIRE' TOM CAT, please phone 01926 640549.

Rescue in Village Field

During a visit to her daughter Kirstie who lives in Gaydon, Claire Rivers was unfortunate enough to trip over while walking her dog along the footpath across the field behind the church.
Her plight was spotted by some of the people whose houses back onto the field and they managed to help her indoors, administer tea and call for the ambulance.
As a result of her fall, Claire had a fractured knee and ruptured tendons and had to stay on with her daughter for much longer than she intended.
She would like to thank Margaret, Claire, Madeleine and Joan for coming to her rescue that day, Monday 29 January.
'Thank you all, from Claire Rivers of Chichester, West Sussex'.

Seasonal Recipe

Thai Salad for Two
Ingredients
200g skinless organic chicken breast
1 green or orange mango, peeled
4 lettuce leaves
1tbs lime juice
1tbs English mustard (try Taylors)
1tsp caster sugar
2tbs sesame oil
freshly ground pepper
Method
Slice the chicken breast into strips. Poach it in a little water for 8 minutes, drain and cool.
Slice the mango into strips.
Shred the lettuce and toss with the chicken and mango in a bowl.
Mix together the other ingredients in a small bowl with several grinds of pepper, then drizzle them over the salad.

Gaydon with Chadshunt
Services for March 2007 AD

*APCM means Annual Parish Church Meeting; in other words, an AGM for the Parish.

Weekday Services

Holy Eucharist will be celebrated on Wednesday 14th at 11am.

Leonard & Joyce Walker

A short service to remember Leonard and Joyce Walker will be held in Chadshunt church at 3pm on Sunday, March 25th.

Shipshapes Holiday Club

Shipshapes will be running again in the Easter holidays, on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 April in Fenny Compton Village Hall.
Each session will run from 10am to noon, at a cost of £2 per child each session and will include the usual mix of games, stories, crafts and drama.
In addition we will be introducing a Lunch and Film Club from 12.00-1.00pm on both days (bring your own sandwiches: cakes, fruit and drinks will be provided) for an additional fee of £1 per child per day.
Shipshapes is sponsored by the Parish Church and is run by local parents for children of primary-school age.
If you would like to sign your child(ren) up for one or both days, please speak to Alysoun (690056) or Kate (770118).

The Vicar's Letter

Plans are in hand for my ministry in the parishes of Fenny Compton and Avon Dassett with Farnborough to begin on April 15th. This means that services after Easter in Gaydon will be taken by others in order to allow me to visit the new parishes and meet people on the Sundays as well as get a feel for how things are there. Visits and meetings with people and church officers plus the wider community have already been arranged.
What this means in practical terms is that I will be spread more thinly over a wider area and ministry and work will have to be shared by the laity in all of the churches. Therefore, one direct result is that three laity, along with the parish reader John Davies, have been authorised to administer Holy Communion, giving the chalice to people at the parish eucharist. This will help on the Sundays when time will count in taking an increased number of services; and it will be a physical reminder of the way that more and more the people of God will have a greater and more visible part to play in the provision of Sunday worship.
I look forward in a very positive way to the new developments and I believe that sharing together in a bigger area of ministry will be of benefit to the local churches, in sharing together in the work and mission of the Church. One benefit of working together has been the formation of a choir in the area led by Jo and Alastair Hotchkiss. Another benefit will be working with young children and in this magazine there is information about a holiday club over the summer in Fenny Compton.
People travel to work and in order to shop and for leisure, so why not travel to share with neighbours in the locality various opportunities for worship and church/community activities? A narrow and inward looking parochialism will not help us in a changed pastoral situation. We need to broaden our vision and work together to ensure that in each community there is regular worship, Christian service and the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.

From Our Roving Reporter

Sunday 28th January 2007
We sailed towards the Falklands in bright sunshine and a calm sea. With the islands in view, a service to commemorate the twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict was held.
Saga Rose anchored about a mile offshore, passengers being taken by tender to Port Stanley - a major operation in itself. The first view of the town showed roofs in a variety of colours, red, green, yellow etc., and after landing we transferred to buses for the various tours arranged.
During Highlights of Port Stanley we saw the cathedral with the whalebone arch in the churchyard; the mizzen mast of SS Gt Britain (the rest of the ship is now in Bristol); the vLiberation monument was another feature, in memory of the British forces killed in the conflict; we saw the Governor's Residence; and a local museum full of memorabilia from the 17th century to the present day.
A drive over scrubland, through an Argentinian minefield (well roped off!), a visit to a peat cutting area - their main domestic fuel - brought us back to the jetty.
There are no trees and so gorse is used as windbreaks and to contain sheep. All vehicles are 4x4s, mostly Landrover Defenders. Plenty of wild life: have seen dolphins, albatross, gentoo penguins, upland geese and variuogulls. A Council of nine, who control everything except foreign policy and defence; would that we were so lucky.
Back to the ship by tender with the swell increasing as the weather changed. Now we are heading for Antactica and that will be something else! Mary Fox

Obituary

Jean Duckett, died 16 January 2007
Jean's daughter, Elizabeth, writes:
Jean moved to Gaydon in 1946 when she married Joseph Duckett who had lived in the village for most of his life. They relocated to Melton Mowbray in 1981 and Joseph died there in 1996.
Jean had been poorly for about eighteen months but she remained cheerful and perky right to the last and she died in the local cottage hospital surrounded by her family. Her cremation was on 23 January.
Those of us who remember Jean with affection would like to offer our sympathy to Elizabeth and her family in their loss.

Gaydon Parish Council

Elections
There will be elections for Gaydon Parish Council this year in May.
If you are interested in standing then please ask any of the current councillors for details, or come along to the surgery on Saturday mornings from 10-11 in the Parish Office behind the Village Hall.

Parish Plan

A further meeting to discuss this will be announced in the next issue of the magazine.

Gaydon Village Field

Work is still being done to raise funds for this and a further meeting will be held in April to be announced in the next magazine. If you would like further information or to make a donation, please contact Jonathan Crowe at Bedford House, Church Road, or call 640394.

Dog Wars

The antisocial person who has let his or her dog leave pile after pile of excrement on the grass verge in front of The Villa and The Vine House in Church Road has now been warned - with half a dozen 'No Fouling' signs fixed on the hedge.
If anyone can obtain photos of the dog-fouling taking place, the Parish Council will actively seek to prosecute the offender; the fine is £1000.

Village Hall News

The Village Hall Cottage is being repaired and decorated ready for a new tenant in April. The garden has been tidied and two brick-built sheds have been repaired, one for the use of the toddler group and the other for the tenant. A new wooden shed will provide extra storage for village hall furniture.
The Village Hall Committee will meet on Monday 12 March at 8pm.